Five Years Old!

On Saturday we celebrated Sam's birthday with a bug party! We had a great time...
swatting bubble flies...

decorating bugs...

having bug races...

opening presents...


eating dirt 'n worms...

and of course having fun with our friends!

Today is Sam's actual birthday so we met Daddy at Tim Horton's for lunch with Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Chris and Auntie Mary. Gramma and Grampa gave Sam a puppet which we have named Terry the Tree Frog and also a lunch box for when he starts Kindergarten in just a few weeks! Yikes!... not sure I'm quite ready for that!


Happy Birthday Sam! We love you so much and we are so proud of who you are and who you are becoming!

Birthday Boy Interview:

Favorite color: dark blue
Favorite food: chicken and ketchup
Favorite show: Space Chimps
Favorite story: Stories from when Daddy and Mommy were kids
Favorite Toy: Super Mario figurine
Favorite song: Go Tell It On The Mountain
When I grow up I want to be a: Super Hero
Something I want to learn: How to be a super hero
Something I'm good at: cleaning up... really, really good!
Something I'm excited about: my next birthday
Favorite memories from being four: making crafts, playing cars, going in the parade, and preschool.
If I could say something to the whole world I would say: I love you!

Summer is for Reading

I have always loved to read, but it seems I do far less of it lately than I would like to. Reading is frustrating to me when I'm constantly being interrupted and I'm not so good at tuning out the chaos around me. BUT... this week I had an appointment that meant sitting in a waiting room for two whole hours!! What a luxury! I packed my purse with books and happily went to my appointment.


Heaven is for Real was recommended to me by my mother-in-law and I loved it. It's a short, easy read and I was able to power through it in one day! Jeremy is now reading it now and I can hardly wait for him to finish so we can talk about it.

My Mom gave me One Thousand Gifts early in the summer. This is not a book that one should power through! It is thought provoking and life changing. I'm only five chapters in and it's already on my "top five most influential books" list. I think I have about 1/3 of what I've read underlined. It's all about gratitude, but Ann Voskamp looks at it from a different, deeper angle. It's amazing and if I had a million dollars I would buy a copy for all my friends (because I won't be lending my copy out!). I also highly recommend Ann Voskamp's blog: A Holy Experience.

Grateful for SMALL Blessings

So my cheap thoughtful husband came home from running errands this morning with a surprise for me. He qualified it by saying he was going to stop at Starbucks and bring me a coffee, but then he heard McDonalds was handing out free coffee so he decided to save a few bucks.

Is that not the cutest cup of coffee you've ever seen?!! Thanks Sweetie!

You Gotta Laugh At This One

When were at Papa's last week it was discovered that he has a marmot hanging around the farm being a big nusance. When Uncle Shawn got there he and all the big boys went out behind the barns and set up a trap. This was apparently very memorable for Sam because it came up in our dinner time conversation last night: "Uncle Shawn was trapping a mormon!".

Cutest Defiance Ever

This is Maarti. Can you guess what she is doing?



She's disobeying. And what do I do?... I run for the camera instead of insisting that she listen and obey. This is a perfect example of why it's so hard to be consistent in parenting.

Happy Canada Day!

We just got home from a fabulous holiday in Enderby. We've been wanting to celebrate Canada Day there for quite a while and this year it finally worked out! And... it didn't just work out for us... the whole family was there! Bonus! The kids love being on the farm and spent the entire week outside getting very dirty!

Canada Day is a big deal in the Carlaw family. This year Papa put five of his antique tractors in the parade and everyone got to be in the parade (except me... I volunteered to take pictures instead which was a much better match for my personality!)

These three cousins were born within four months of each other and they loved being together! Here they are getting ready for the parade. I was coaching Maarti to say "Happy Canada Day!" but everytime I asked her what she was going to say in the parade she shouted "Happy Father's Day!". Oh well... in this case I guess she wasn't too far off!



Everyone had a great time being in the parade... someone even handed them handfuls of candy before the parade started so they wouldn't miss out.

Look at all those Massey's... If it ain't red, leave it in the shed!






After the parade the Shuswap Pioneer Collector's Club came back to the farm for a BBQ, lawnmower races and a tractor pull. It was a super fun afternoon! Love this red neck family of mine!